I planted an asparagus bed several years ago. In previous years unusual
events (wind storm, hail) kept me from making any judgments. But this year
I have no excuses. The plants came up pretty well and I harvested some
spears sparingly. All spring we've had plenty of moisture, but the green
foliage on all the plants uniformly seems to be withering starting at the
top and working downward. Right now the top 15 " of all the 4 foot tall
plants appears completely dead. Does anyone have any ideas?

josh wrote:

I planted an asparagus bed several years ago. In previous years unusual
events (wind storm, hail) kept me from making any judgments. But this
year I have no excuses. The plants came up pretty well and I harvested
some spears sparingly. All spring we've had plenty of moisture, but the
green foliage on all the plants uniformly seems to be withering starting
at the top and working downward. Right now the top 15 " of all the 4 foot
tall plants appears completely dead. Does anyone have any ideas?


google is your friend. I searched on "asparagus yellowing" and got a ton of
hits. This is one that might provide the answer you need. (It's possible
the yellowing is a lack of N)

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/asprhu.html

Are you saying that you have let them go into fern stage already?
Letting it go to fern so early in the season will only shorten the lifesapn
of your asparagus crowns.
You be harvesting ALL the spears when they are 8inches(or a little
shorter)every day.Even the pencil thin ones.Once the weather gets very
warm,stop harvesting and than let it go to fern stage. You will be able to
tell its time to stop harvesting when the tips start to open up when they
are around the right size to harvest.
"Bill" wrote in message
...
josh wrote:

I planted an asparagus bed several years ago. In previous years unusual
events (wind storm, hail) kept me from making any judgments. But this
year I have no excuses. The plants came up pretty well and I harvested
some spears sparingly. All spring we've had plenty of moisture, but the
green foliage on all the plants uniformly seems to be withering starting
at the top and working downward. Right now the top 15 " of all the 4
foot
tall plants appears completely dead. Does anyone have any ideas?


google is your friend. I searched on "asparagus yellowing" and got a ton
of
hits. This is one that might provide the answer you need. (It's possible
the yellowing is a lack of N)

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/asprhu.html